Automatic feed for fish-cleaning machines



Dec. 27, 192 7.

J. F. HEINBOCKEL ET AL AUTOMATIC FEED FOR FISH CLEANING MACHINES FiledMay 29, 192 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOM.

W flJu/liumv. BY 1W,f r- M A TTORNEYS Dec. 27, 1927,

J. F. HEINBOCKEL ET AL.

AUTOMATIC FEED FOR FISH CLEANING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 29,1926 Dec. 27, 1927. 1,653,906

.1. F. HEINBOCZKEL ET AL AUTOMATIC FEED FOR FISH CLEANING MACHINES FiledMay 29-, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 WIN Dec. 27,1927. 1,653,906

J. F. HEINBOCKEL ET AL AUTOMATIC FEED FOR FISH CLEANING MACHINES FiledMay 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORS. M JfMocfw, mm: W Jul/50m. ofnaau 7:l ATTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 27, 1927.

. osifreosinne s .l' H1? HE1'IilTBOCKEL .AhTD ALBERT :SULLIVAI-T', OFSkill FEALNQISCO, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATIC FEED "FOR FISHeCLEANING MACHINES,

Application filed" May 29,

This invention relates to fish cleaningmechines and particularly to an*hnipfoved automatic feeding and "heheedingmeehanisni therefor. InoneWell lznownform of fishcleiining'mechine, a large bull Wheelieprovided with several grippersjspaced thereeround. These grippers areeach'edepted'to grip thetail of e fish Jand carry the same erou'nd'totheseveral dressingfand cleaning mechanisms which"ereloceted leround theWheel at thes'periphery thereof. :Hereto- 'fore; \the fish haveordinarilybeen fed by 'l'iend to thisi'wh eel. tis en'object of ourinvention" to". provide "means for intern'iittently receivingfishisuccessively from hop- Per, 'severingthe heads thereofehdlthereotter feedingthefish to theseidgrippers in a manner "wherebyeach gripper vill suc- Ucessively receive anchg'rip a fish end eerrytheseme around tothe dressing andcle'aning mechanisms.

In. the accompanying draw ngs, we hzrve illustrated certainspecitiomechenism embodying our invention. but it will be understoodthat the'invention canbe' otherwise embodied and that the drawings arenot to he construed as" defining or limiting the scope "Orthe invention,the claims appended to'this specification being relied upon for thatpurpose.

Referring to the figures of the accompany 111g drawings:

Figure l a plan vie'W'of one embodiment oi our invention.

Figure 2 is 9. side elevetion thereof. I

Figure 3'is a fragmentary end" view showing the beheading mechanism.

Figure 4 fragmentary sectionzihvlevv taken on line IVIV of Fig. l.

Figure 5 is a. iregmentery detail View of the endless conveyor .inechenism.

Figure 6 is e sectional view taken on line VIVI of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view vllvll of Fig. l.

8 to 11 are detail sectionulviews taken on lines VIII to XlinclusiveofFigs. 1 and 2. I

i2 is a detail View of the intermittent driving mechanism.

Fig. 13 is View like Fig.

a modification of our invention.

Fig-.14 is an end view of Fig. 13.

In the drawings, 1 indicates a fish. hopper and. 2 a chute therefrom tothecieaning inechine. The chute is edapted to deliver the taken on line2 but showing 1926. Serial 1%. 112,609.

fish to one "end of an endless conveyor 3 which carries a plure ty' ofuni lforinly l l. .:I

spaced hooks e for engaging in the gills of the fish. it?pivotechniemher 5 "is adapted "5 The conveyor and its cooperating"ine'chanism"conipr1sing our invention; zerefmounted on asupporting frame6.

The "conveyor 3', and preferzib'ly' the pzirts cooperating therewith,may 'be driven'ir'om arpulley 7 on a shaft The conveyoriis drivenintermittently from "this "shaft through "the following connections,i'nc'ludingthe Geneve drive shown in Fig.12. A pin 9 on e dlslpll) isadapted to 'enga'gefin tour notches 11 of e disk .12 loose "on a fixedshaft 13. Thedisk "and a gear 15 thereon re thereby intermittentlyrotatedWO" "at each rotation of theshaft- 8.

The gear l5.is connected to thedriving Wheel 14' of the conveyor throughbevel gear "16, shufdl'f, bevel gears lSend 19, and shaft 20.

As will be notedythe conveyor 3 is inount- "edin eieterelly inclinedposition. Alsop- "port-21"is provided latertrlly adjacent the lowerisideof the conveyor at. a position removed iroin'the feedingchute 2. A1,gate-22 prevents'the fish lroinsllding off the 'conveyor onto thesupport 21 and e Wall23 prevents the fish from sliding oil"the conveyorbefore they reach this position. ii se'co'nd gate 2e prevents thefish'jtroinslidingoil the support 21 into echuteflti and "downwardlyinto a trough26. iThesegatesarejoperated flroin the shaft 8. insynchronism- With the conveyor 3 and a 'beliehding knife 27. H

As illustrated best-Kin l igsf l and Zeech gate (22 end .2 1 mounted onpair of verticallyiinovable rods 28 sliding'in guides 29end connectedtogetherut "their lower ends by e her-.30. A spring 3i norinilly.l'1.oldstl1e" ute in its uolward )osition. "The D L 1 i gate is,intermi tently drawn downward by e czun 32 'on'theshott 8 engaging aroller on a lever 33 pivoted at 3-1 and having itsiree end connected byal1nlc35 to'theher 30.

{twill heunderstood thet tivo such inech aiusmsnre provided torlefilpeCtligly101361- u ting the two gates. p

The beheadingknife 271s mounted onthe upper ends of two'lrods 36vertically slidable iniguid'es 37. A; lever oo pivoted et stantially asfollows:

39, has its free end connected by a link 4O to a cross head 41 securedto the rods. A lever 42 pivoted at 34 has its free end connected to thelever 38 by a pair oi links 44. A spring 45 connected to the lever 42normally keeps the beheading knife in its raised position. A cam 46 onthe shaft 8 engages a roller on the lever 42 and intermittently movesthe beheading knife downwardly.

When the gate 24 is lowered, the beheaded fish slides into the chute 25and trough 26, both of which are inclined downwardly. At the end of thismovement, the fish has automatically assumed the position shown in Fig.1, wherein its tail projects a short distance through a pair of spacedgates 47. A second conveyor mechanism now operates to carry thebeheaded'fish to the dressing wheel 48. A pair of parallel rods 49,which are also parallel with the trough 26, are carried on the free endsof two levers 5O pivoted on a bracket 51 at 52. A pair of carriers 53each having two inwardly projecting pins 54, are slidably mounted on therods 49 and also on a pair of relatively right angular rods 55 carriedby a yoke 56. The pins 54 are in alignment with slots 57 extendingthrough and longitudinallyot the trough 26. A

spring 58 normally holds the carriers in the outer position illustratedin Fig. 8. A sliding wedge 59 is adapted to spread the ends 60 of thelevers 50 in a manner forcing the pins inwardly to engage the lish inthe trough. a

The wedge 59 is operated by a cam (51 on the shaft 8 engaging a lever 62pivoted at 63 and connected to the wedge by a rod (54. A spring 65 holdsthe lever against the cam.

The yoke 56 is pivoted at 66 to a link 67 pivoted at 68. The yoke isoscillated about its pivot 66 by a rod 69 connectedto a iielnber ,70engaging an eceentrle 71 on the shaft 8.

One arm of a bell e 'anlr 72 pivoted at 73 is connected to the gates atby a rod 74. The

other arm is connected by a rod 5 to a lever 76. A spring 77 normallyholds the gate in theupward position and acain 78 on the shaft 8movesthe gates. downwardly against the action of the spring.

The dressing wheel 48 is driven from the shaft 8through a chain 79 andsuitablegear ing 80. One of the fish grippersBl on the dressing wheel isillustrated in Fig. 1.

Briefly, the operation of the improved machine comprisin our inventionis sub- The several parts of the machine are driven from the shaft 8 andare therefore operated in synchronxsin.

The fish are guided from the hopper 1 down the chute 2 head foremost.The head of each fish enters beneath the mernberfi and at the nerttintermittent movement of the conveyor 3, a hook 4Jengages in the gilland moves the fish along therewith.

This movement is slightly greater than the length of the fish, wherebythe fish is carried just beyond the member 5. Upon the neat movement ofthe conveyor, the fish is carried to a position opposite to the support21.

At each pause in the conveyor movement, gate 22 is lowered and theadjacent fish on the conveyor slides onto the support 21, the hook 4being so positioned that the lish slides to the proper position beneaththe beheading knife 27. The knife thereafter operates to behead thefish. The gate 24 is then lowered and the beheaded fish slides to theposition shown in Fig. 1, with its tail projecting slightly between thespaced gates 47.

The cam 61 thereafter operates the wet ge 59 to force the rods 49 towardeach other and the pins 54 into engagement with the fish. The cam 67then lowers the gates 47 and the eccentric 71 moves the yoke 56forwardly to a position, placing the tail portion of thelieh between thegrippers 81. These grippers thereupon engage the lish and the wheel 48rotated to carry thelish to the cleaning mech anism and to present anemptypair oi grippers to the trough 26. As has been heretd fore stated,all these operations are per- :lormed from the shaft 8 and in propertimed relation to carry on the operation continu ously andsin'iultaneously.

'lhe niechansrn shown in Figs. 13 and 14 is the same as that justdescribed, except that a double belt conveyor is substituted For thereciprocating conveyor, which carries the beheaded fish to the dressingwheel 48. This conveyorcomprises a pair or belts 252 relatively arrangedto form a trough therebe tween and running over end pulleys Sil and it84. The belts are driven tronathe shalt t; by bevel bears 85 and 86. Itwill be seen that after the fish is beheaded and the gate 24 lowers, thebeheaded fish slides into the trough formed between the belts 82 and 1Ull lid

illil carried tothe dressing wheel 48 inthe manner above described. y i

Having thus described our iuvcntirun what we claim is p i l 1. in a fishdressing machine, the combination of a conveyor adapted to receive andintermittently carry fish one at a time aim cessively to a definiteposition on the 1nachine, means whereby said lish is transferred to asecond and stationary position, i'ueaue fol-holding the fish in saidpositiomir beheader for automatically beheauling saidfish while in saidsecond position, means glor releasing said fish from said secondposition after the beheading operation. a conveyor for receiving saidbeheaded lish. and conveying the same outo l' the inal'zhine, and meanswhereby the operation of the aliiove conveyors and beheading means areso timed that the tish is al'ltomatieallyded into the machine beheadedand discharged therefrom.

" adjacent the said support moves onto the support during each pause inthe conveyor movement, means for severing the head of each fish While onthe support, and interinittently operating means for moving each fishafter-the beheading thereof to a definite position Where the same isengaged by a cleaning mechanism.

3. In a fish dressing machine, the combination of an endless conveyor, achute adjacent one end thereof, a plurality of hooks carried inuniformly spaced relation by the conveyor, the chute being adapted toguide the fish onto the conveyor Where the hooks res a-ectively engagein the gills of the fish and carry the same along therewith, a supportlaterally adjacent another portion of the conveyor, means whereby a fishon the conveyor adjacent the said support moves onto the support duringeach pause in the conveyor movement, means for severing the head of suchfish While on the support, means i'or gripping and conveying each fishafter the beheading thereof to a definite position on the machine, andmeans ior intermittently operating the conveyor, be-

header, the gripping and conveying means in synchronism whereby a fishis mechanically and automatically passed through the machine In a fishdressing machine, the combination of a laterally inclined endlessconveyor, a chute adjacent one end thereof, a;

plurality of hooks carriedin spaced. relation by the conveyor, the chutebeing adapted to guide fish onto the conveyor Where the hooksrespectively engage in the gills of the fish and :arry the same alongtherewith, a sup-- port laterally adjacent another portion of theconveyor on the lower side thereof, means intermittently operating theconveyor, a gate between the conveyor and the said support, means i'orintermittently moving the gate at each pause in the conveyor movcment topermit a fish on the conveyor to slide onto the support, means forsevering the head of S11"ll fish While on the support, andintermittently operating means for moving each fish after the beheadingthereof to a definite position Where the same is engaged by a cleaningmechanism.

5. In a fish dressing machine, the combination of a laterally inclinedendless conveyor, a chute adjacentone end thereof, a plurality of hookscarried in uniformly spaced relation by the conveyor, the chute beingadapted to guide fish onto the conveyor Where the hooks respectivelyengage inthe gills of the fish and carry the/same along therewith, asupport laterally adjacent another portion of the conveyor on the lowerside thereof, means intermittently operating the conveyor, a verticallymovable gate between the conveyor and the said support, means torintermittently moving the gate vertically at each pause in the conveyormovement to permit a fish on the conveyor to slide onto the support,means for severing the head of such fish While on the support, andintermittently operating means for moving each fish after the beheadingthereof to a definiteposition Where the same is engaged by a cleaningmechanism.

6. In a. fish dressing machine, the combination of a conveyor, a chuteadjacent one end thereof, a plurality of hooks carried in spacedrelation by the conveyor, the chute being adapted to guide fish onto theconveyor Where the hooks respectively engage in the gills of the fishand carry the same along therewith, asupport laterally adj acent anotherportion of the conveyor, means in tcrmittently operating the conveyor,means whereby a fish on the conveyor adjacent the said support movesonto the support during each pause in the conveyor movement, means forsevering the head of each fish While 'bn the support, and conveyor meansfor moving each fish after the beheading thereof to a definite positionWhere the same is engaged by a cleaning mechanism. 7

'1'. In a fish dressing machine, the combination of a conveyor adaptedto receive and intermittently carry fish one at a time successively to adefinite position on the machine, a double belt conveyor adapted toreceive f and intermittently carry the same fish one at a timesuccessively to another definite position on the machine, a beheader forautomatically beheading the fish intermediate the two conveyors, andmeans for operating the conveyors and beheader in synchronism, whereby afish is automatiraily passed through the i'nachine.

JOHN F. HEINBOCKEL. ALBERT V. SULLIVAN. I

